WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1708/97 by Hiltrud BREYER to the Commission. Electricity Grid Feed Act
Date: 1997-05-23
Institutions: BREYER, European Parliament
Subjects: Germany, clean technology, electrical energy, energy production, environmental protection, liberalisation of the market, price of energy, principle of subsidiarity, renewable energy, wind energy

11. 3. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 76/49

1.
How does the Commission believe that the share of renewable energy can be doubled by 2010, as called for
in the Green Paper on Renewable Sources of Energy, without creating the basis for payments to be made for
power supplied to the grid from renewable sources such as to provide an incentive for the installation of new
production capacity?

2.
How can the Commission explain the assertion that the real additional costs of DM 20 million arising from
wind power in 1995 obstruct intra-Community trade in electricity? Is the Commission, moreover, aware that the
vertically integrated undertaking PreussenElektra, which has complained about this, does not even have to make
the  additional  payments  required  by  the  Electricity  Grid  Feed  Act?  The  Act  addresses  itself  primarily  to
distributors such as Schleswag, EWE and U¤ NH.

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-1708/97, E-1710/97, E-1712/97 and E-1717/97
given by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission

(31 July 1997)

The Commission is not able to comment at this stage on different figures for costs and capacities of the German
electricity  industry.  The  Commission,  however,  wishes  to  confirm  its  commitment  to  promoting  renewable
energy  sources.  Given  the  favourable  reactions  to  its  green  paper  on  renewable  energy  sources (1),  the
Commission intends to propose further measures to promote penetration of renewables in the Union in order to
achieve the proposed indicative objective of a 12% share by 2010.

Directive 96/92/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the
internal electricity market (2) came into force on 19 February 1997. Articles 8(3) and 11(3) explicitly offer the
possibility to Member States, to give preference to electricity produced from renewables, waste or combined heat
and power (CHP), at the stage of load dispatch. However, the Directive does not address the problem of financing
such actions, which, following the principle of subsidiarity, will have to be solved at national level during the
implementation of the Directive. The Commission will examine all proposed measures as to their compatibility
with  the  Directive,  without  prejudice  to  relevant  provisions  of  the  EC  Treaty,  in  particular  the  provisions
concerning competition.

In  its  Resolution  of  27  May  1997  on  a  strategy  for  renewable  energy  sources,  adopted  on  the  basis  of  the
Commission’s green paper on the same subject, the Council noted that in the framework of the liberalisation of
the energy markets, a policy at the level of Member States and, within the limits of subsidiarity, at Community
level, is required to improve the competitive position of renewables. The Commission intends to give further
consideration to this issue, including the question of electricity feed-in laws, in the framework of the preparatory
work  for  the  establishment  of  a  Community  strategy  on  renewables.  The  Commission  intends  to  publish  its
strategy in the form of a white paper and a proposal for an action plan, later in 1997, as announced in the green
paper.

(1)  COM(96) 576 final.
(2)  OJ L 27, 30.1.1997.

(98/C 76/131)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1733/97

by Esko Seppa¤nen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(23 May 1997)

Subject: Use of antibiotics in animal feed

The following questions concern the use of antibiotics in feedingstuffs for livestock and fish used in meat and
fish production.

1.  What kinds of antibiotics does the Commission consider it justified to use in feedingstuffs for livestock and

fish used in meat and fish production?

2.  What is the Commission willing to do to reduce the use of antibiotics?